Door mounting



NOV. 17, 1931. v A. EPTQN ET L 1,831,850

DOOR MOUNTING Filed May 26, 1 930 j/ I l /'58 mvENTORS Patented Nov. 17,1931 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE ARTHUR I. EPTON AND MAX W. FELDMAN, OFCHICAGO, ILLINOIS DOOR MOUNTING Application filed May 26,

This invention relates to certain novel im provements in door mountings,and has for its principal object the provision of an improvedconstruction of this character which .25 will be highly efiicient in useand economical in manufacture.

The present invention has reference more particularly to an arrangementwhich is in tended and is adapted to be incorporated or associated witha door suspended or mounted in its opening by the employment of hingestructures such as disclosed in our pending applications Serial Numbers439,763, 453,459, and 453,460, filed in the United States Patent Officefor United States Letters Patent.

A door suspended or mounted in its opening by the employmentof hingestructures disclosed in our pending applications referred to is suchthat the door may be opened from either of the side door jambs of thedoor openin In this connection our present in vention more particularlyhas reference to an arrangement for releasably latching the door on oneside thereof during manipulation of the mechanism for opening the doorfrom the other side accomplishing one of the many objects of theinvention wherein the arrangement will permit the door to be opened fromeither side, yet prevent the door from being opened from both sides atthe same time which would consequently result in the door dropping fromclosing position.

In mounting an automobile door in its opening by the use of the hingestructures referred to which permit the door to be alternately openedfrom either side jamb, it is advantageous to provide an inexpensivearrangement which will prevent the door from being opened at the sametime from both of the side jambs where two occupants of the automobileshould inadvertently or accidently endeavor to manipulate the mechanismfor opening the door at the same time. If this were permitted, the doormight not only fall from its position in the opening, but might injurethe occupants of the car or automobile. Therefore, it is another obj ectof this invention to provide asimple and expeditious arrangement ofparts which will function to releasably latch the door on the 1930.Serial No. 455,539.

side nearest its point of swinging movement yet which will not interferewith such swinging movement.

Again it has been found expedient to provide an arrangement toaccomplish the above objects and which will serve to releasably latchthe operating mechanism at one side of the door while the othermechanism is free to operate whereby should the door he not completelyswung into a closed position, the opposite operating mechanism cannot bemanipulated until the door has een completely closed.v

A still further object of the invention is to provide an arrangement ofparts for accomplishing the above objects and which will have for itsobject asimple arrangement for guiding the door into its proper positionwhen closed, thereby avoiding the usual bulging or warping of the doorcaused from any well known manner. In connection with automobile doors,it is a known fact that due to the vibratory action of the automobileand due to the weak condition of the hinges or the weight of thcdoordisposed upon such hinges that the door has a tendency to buckle orWarp, and consequently when the door is in a closed position the doordoes not assume a true closing position. By the use of the arrangementhereinafter described, and 30 which constitutes one of the objects ofour invention, by providing a guide the door will be caused to assume atrue position when in closed position.

' Other objects will appear hereinafter.

The invention consists in the novel combination and arrangement of partsto be hereinafter described and claimed.

The invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanyingdrawings showing the preferred form of construction, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of an automobile door showing ourinvention associated therewith;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional detail view of the same takensubstantially on line 2-2 of 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional detail view taken substantially on line 3-3 ofFig. 1;

Fig. l is a perspective view of a latch housing embodied in theinvention;

Fig. 4A is a perspective view of a keeper plate embodied in theinvention;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional detail view taken substantially online 55 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional detail View taken substantially online 6-6 of Fig. 1.

While we have indicated herein that our present invention is especiallyadaptable for connection with an automobile door, it is to be understoodthat the invention may be associated with a door of any description orcharacter. Therefore, we do not wish to be limited to the use of ourinvention in connection with an automobile door.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 10 indicates the casing 01:the door opening of an automobile body, and 11, a door which may includea window 12. This door 11 is suspended to the casing 10 so that the doormay be opened from either of the side jambs 13. This suspension isaccomplished by the use of a hinge structure described in our pendingapplications herein referred to. For a better understanding of theinvention we have illustrated a form of hinge structure which isemployed to mount the door 11 in its opening. In this connection,reference being had to Fig. 2, our hinge structure in the presentinstance includes ahinge leaf 14: comprising a body plate 15 attached tothe edge 16 of the door 11 by means of suitable connecting elements 17such as screws or the like.

Preferably formed as an integral part of this body plate is a knuckle 18which includes a transverse slot 19 opening from the inner side of theknuckle. This slot is intended to receive a pintle 20 carried by aknuckle 21 preferably formed as an integral part of a body pla' e 22 ofa hinge leaf 23 which is likewise secured to the casing 13 by means ofsuitable connecting elements 24 such as screws or the like. This bodyplate 22 includes an inwardly extending tapered recess 25 which isadapted to receive a tapered lug 26. This lug 26 is adapted to have itsedges ride upon the edges of the tapered socket whereby to effectuate aguide for guiding the door in its complete closed position whereby whenthe door is closed, the door will assume a true position in the opening.

A suitable latch pin is indicated at 27, and this latch pin extends whenthe door is in a closed position to the rear of the pintle 20 and isurged in this position by means of a suitable spring 28.

For further desc 'iption of the hinge structure reference is to be hadto our pending applications. 7

The means for releasably latching the door to the side of the jamb onwhich it is swing ing in the present instance preferably ineludes ahousing 29 providing a transverse passage 30. This housin 29 is adaptedto lit into a recess 31 formeo in the edge 32 of the door, it beingpointed out that there are two such housings employed and thedescription of one is equally applicable to the other.

This housing 29 includes a plate 33 having suitable openings 34 formedtherein for the passage of connecting elements 35 such screws or thelike. The housing 29 further includes a transverse plate 36 which isprovided with a tapered slot 37 to prevent ol struction of the passage30, and this plate is likewise provided with suitable openings 38 forthe passage of connecting elements 39 such as screws or the like.

The tapered slot 37 provides oppositely disposed edges 40 thereof whichtaper upwardly and outwardly toward each other for reasons hereinafterunderstood.

Associated with the loor 11 a transversely extending latch member til,the ends 4&2 of which are adapted to pass through each housing 29associated with the edge of the door, and these ends are preferablytapered as at l3. The latch member ll in the present instance iscentralized with respect to the door by means of suitable springelements 4% connected to the latch member and the housing as atAssociated with the door on each side thereof is an operating lever 46which includes a handle 47. The inner end portion 48 of this leverprovides an n tanding arm -19 which may be provided wi h a sphericalshaped head 50. This head 50 adapted 1o engage in a notch 51 formed inthe end of the latch member 41, whereby upon rotation of the operatinglever e6 in one direction the latch member -1 will be moved thereby.

The plate 36 provides a knuckle which is provided with a transverse slotopeni at the inner side of the knuckle. This slot 53 is adapted to rec ea pintle 5% carried by the knuckles of a plate 56 having suitableopenings 57 for the projection of connection elements 58 such as screwsor the like whereby the plate may be connected to the door jamb. Thisplate 56 provides a keeper block 59 providing parallel heads 60 and 61arranged in step formation for reasons hereinafter set forth. The head60 provides together with the plate 56 a recess 62 for reasonshereinafter set forth.

The keeper block 59 is preferably tapered so that its opposite sides 63will taper in a direction to correspond to the tapered edges of the slot37 for reasons hereinafter understood.

For a better understanding of the operation of the invention we haveindicated in the drawings the latch member operating mechanism by thereference characters A and B.

In operation, assuming that it is desired to open the door from theright hand side,

thus swinging the door on its left hand side, the operator will graspthe handle 47 of the operating mechanism B and apply pressure thereto soas to rotate the lever 46 in a direction to cause the arm 49 to act uponthe latch member and shift the latch member longitudinally in adirection to dispose the tapered end 43 thereof from engagement to therear of the latch head 60. As this latch member is shifted, the oppositetapered end 43 thereof will be shifted into latched position to the rearof the latch head 60. The door is now swung to an open position, thisbeing permitted by reason of the fact that the latch pins 27 of thehinge structures on the right hand side of the door will be moved by contact with the pintles of these hinge structures from latched positionwith respect to these pintles.

hen the door is closed one of the springs 44, that spring nearest themechanism operated being placed under tension, will act when theoperating mechanism is released to urge the latch member in an oppositedirection and thereby dispose the tapered end of the latch member on theright hand end thereof into latched position with respect to the latchmember of the mechanism B, and consequently the door will be latchedfrom both sides. During this opening operation of the door from theright hand side the action of the operating mechanism B being transposedto move the bar 41 will prevent operation of the operating mechanism Aand consequently the door cannot be opened from the left hand sideduring the operation of opening the door from the right hand side.

Assuming that during the closing action of the door sufficient pressurehas not been applied thereto to complete the closing of'the door, butthe door is closed so as to dispose the end of the latch member adjacentthe mechanism B in alignment with the latch head 61, under theseconditions the sprin which is under tension will urge the latch memberin a movement to dispose the tapered end thereof in latched positionwith respect to this latch head and consequently the door cannot beopened from the left hand side as there is not sufficient room to permitmovement of the latch member toward the mechanism B to release the latchmember from latched engagement with the head 60 of the mechanism A. Inthis manner we prevent by the use of our combination of parts theopening of the door from the left hand side when the door is notcompletely closed at the right hand side.

During the closing action of the door the keeper plate 59 being of atapered construction will engage the tapered socket and the edgesthereof will cause the door to assume a true position in the openingprovided by the casing.

As is apparent from the drawings and the closed position. will belatched at both side jambs. 7

While we have illustrated and described the preferred form ofconstruction for carrying our invention into effect, this is capable ofvariation and modification without departing from the spirit of theinvention. We,

therefore, do not wish to be limited to the precise details ofconstruction set forth, but desireto avail ourselves of such variationsand modifications as come within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire toprotect by Letters Patent is: v v

l. Latching means for a door including a latch member, means forsupporting the latch member for slidable movement, means for moving thelatch member in one directi0n,said supporting means including a bodyproviding a tapered slot, a keeper plate including a latch head adaptedto be engaged by the latch member and said latch head being tapered forengagement in said tapered slot. r

2.7 Latching means for a door including a latch member, means forsupporting the latch member for slidable movement, means for movingthevlatch member in one direction, said supporting means including abody providing a tapered slot including adjacent latch heads adapted toindependently engage the latch member, said heads being tapered forengagement in said tapered slot.

3. A combination latch and hinge structure including a body providing aknuckle and apassage, a latch member supported by the body and slidablethrough thepassage, means for slidably moving said latch member, akeeper plate including a knuckle, a pintle supported by the knuckle,said knuckle provided by said body having an open slot formed thereinfor the reception of said pintle, and a latch head provided by thekeeper plate and adapted for engagement with the latch member.

4. The combination with a door and hinge structures formounting saiddoor to opposite side jambs of a door casing whereby said door may beopened from either of the side jambs, of latch mechanism for alternatelylatching said door to the said opposite side j ambs including a. latchmember, means for supporting the latch member for movement transverselyof the door, operating members adapted to independently move said latchmember, said latch member being adapted to oppose simultaneous operationof said operating members, and keeper plates carried by the said ambsand adapted for engagement with the opposite ends of said latch member.

latch member, and means providing connec- Lil - 5. 'A- combined hingeand latch mechanism including hinge leaves adapted to be attached to adoor and afdoor jamb, means including a slot and pin connection fordetachably con necting said hinge leaves together, a movable latchmember supported by the door for releasably holding said hinge leaves inattached position by said slot and pin connection, and means for movingsaid latch member in a direction to permit detachment of said hingeleaves.

6. The combination with a door and binge structures for mounting saiddoor to opposite side jambs of a door casing whereby said door may beopened from either of the side j ambs, of latching mechanism for saiddoor including a latch member, means for supporting the latch member formovement transversely of the door, with the opposite ends of said latchmember normally projecting beyond the opposite side edges of the door,and keeper plates associated with the side jambs and adapted for latchedengage ment with the opposite ends of the latch member.

7. Latching means for a door which is mounted for opening movement fromeither of the side jambs of a door casing including keeper platesassociated with the side jambs a latch member normally having latchedengagement with the keeper plates when the door is in closed positionwith respect to the casing, operating members common to said tionbetween the operating members and said latch member, said latch memberbeing adapted to oppose simultaneous operation of said operating'membersin corresponding directions.

In testimony whereof, we aflix our signatures.

ARTHUR I. EPTON. MAX W. FELDMAN.

